Historically, the process of winning capital from limited partners has been opaque. However, in the last few years a few have started to use social media and become more transparent. I particularly like OpenLP.com, Origins, and the Raise blog, all of which include content from multiple LPs.
At Invesco’s conference on Emerging GPs, one of the highlights was a presentation by Laurie Weir summarizing CALPERS’ selection criteria under their Private Equity Emerging Manager Program Review. Their Report gives granular detail on what they are looking for — and avoid — in fund managers.
Matthew Craig-Greene of consultancy MJ Hudson points out, “Most public plans publish meeting minutes, and these can be a very interesting place to find information on manager selection. CALPERS and some others even archive videos of sessions.”
I’ve written a number of pieces relevant if you are fundraising for a private equity or venture capital fund: I suggest:
- Limited partner due diligence on VC and private equity funds
- my presentation on raising capital for tech companies
- How to write a resume that wins investors.
I’ve compiled here the best other resources I’ve found. If you have any other resources to add, please contact me.
LIMITED PARTNERS’ PERSPECTIVE
Chris Douvos is almost certainly the LP who has been blogging the longest, at SuperLP.com. (Incidentally, as an indicator of how high the bar is for a GP, he says, “I dove into our fund log from the last couple of quarters and found that the mean IRR (among VCs listing one) was over 36%.”) Other LP bloggers include Blue Future Partners (BlueFP.com), Lindel Eakman (LDEakman), Trey Hart (LP2LP2VC.com), and Samir Kaji (PEVCBanker).
Origins is a podcast about Limited Partners, created by VC Notation Capital. See for example their interview with Brad Feld.
Samir Kaji: The Family Office perspective on venture fund allocations
Sameer Jain, ActiveAllocator.com: Due Diligence Framework for Direct Investing
Denis Tse: Fund Management Craftsmanship: An LP’s Food for Thought for Emerging VC General Partners
Mesh Lakhani on his approach to angel and fund investing
Sapphire Ventures’ Top 10 tips for pitching an LP
Pantheon: “Private equity fund manager due diligence and selection“
Lindel Eakman on joining Foundry Group
Alex Bangash: “VC is all about access”
Katherine Barr: 500 Startups’ Premoney
Top Tier: ‘Straight Talk’ From a Leading LP: How LPs Evaluate New Managers
6 Common Pitfalls VCs Make With LPs
Some Advice On “First Calls” With Fund Managers You Might Be Evaluating
Successful Fundraiser’s Philosophy: How Micro VCs Get Off the Ground & Succeed . Here’s the Deck.
PEVCbanker.com on Tips to write a great venture fund pitch deck
In this segment of the a16z Podcast, three investors (who are also limited partners in a16z) — Andy Golden of the Princeton University Investment Company, Ben Gomez of Pilothouse Associates, and Edwin Poston and Mel Williams of TrueBridge Capital Partners — share their thoughts on tech valuations, liquidity in the markets, and what some in Silicon Valley may have a tendency to overlook.
GENERAL PARTNERS’ PERSPECTIVE
Brad Feld: raising a $150m fund
Physics Ventures: Why LPs Invested in Our First Fund
SAASTR: On raising a $180m fund
Elizabeth Yin, Hustle Fund: How I Raised a First-Time VC VC fund
Jonathan Struhl: On raising a VC Fund
Quora responses on: raising a first VC fund
Kirk Coburn: Raising a VC fund in Houston
Charlie O’Donnell: Lessons learned from raising a first-time VC fund
Five Questions for Vetting an Investment in a New or Emerging VC Fund
Hunterwalk.com: Homebrew’s Second Annual LP Meeting: Why We Do Them
Mahendra Ramsinghani: How LPs conduct DD
A look into fundraising for aspiring venture capitalists
CLOSE RATES
A few VCs have shared their percentage close rates with LPs:
Homebrew: 100 Days of Fundraising
Confessions Of A VC Who Raised Money During Financial Armageddon
PLACEMENT AGENTS’ PERSPECTIVE
Evan Katz, Crawford Ventures: 44 Tips for Hedge Fund fundraising (but also applicable to VC/PE)
SELECT DATA SOURCES
These are particularly helpful for UHNWs:
SAMPLE VENTURE CAPITALISTS’ DECKS FOR LIMITED PARTNERS
Nick Chirls and Alex Lines of Notation Capital in Brooklyn reveal the pitch deck they used to raise their $8 million ‘pre-seed investment fund’ in “VC/Firm Fit”
Alternative Protein Fund deck
Collected Venture Capital Pitch Decks: What VCs raised with to get capital to invest in startups
Venture capital LP one-pager for fundraising from Limited Partners
SURGE Ventures Series Seed & “A” Fund Pitch Deck
Notation Capital: VC/Firm Fit
SELECT CONSULTANTS WHO ADVISE ON FUNDRAISING
(Note these are not placement agents. A number of these firms have rich resources on their websites.)
HI DAVID, HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE WE LAST SPOKE. gREAT COLLECTION OF RESOURCES. MOST PUBLIC PLANS PUBLISH MEETING MINUTES AND THESE CAN BE A VERY INTERESTING PLACE TO FIND INFORMATION ON MANAGER SELECTION. calperS AND SOME OTHERS EVEN ARCHIVE VIDEOS OF SESSIONS. MY TEAM AT mj HUDSON PERFORMS A SIMILAR SERVICE TO THOSE YOU MENTION ABOVE AND THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO INCLUDE FOR COMPLETENESS. MOST OF OUR CLIENTS ARE IN eUROPE, AT THE MOMENT, BUT MOST RAISE GLOBALLY. https://www.mjhudson.com/expertise/ir-marketing/